That’s A Wrap: Stocks Register Record First Quarter

Put it in the books: The Dow and S&P 500 notched their biggest first-quarter point gains ever.

The Dow surged 994 points, or 8.1%,to 13212.04 and the S&P 500 soared 150.87 points, or 12%, to 1408.47 throughout the first three months of the year. An improving U.S. economy and reduced fears about Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis prompted the record surge. Both indexes notched their best first-quarter percentage gains since 1998.

The bulls will like this factoid: Since 1950, the S&P 500 has always finished a year higher after gaining at least 8% in the first quarter, according to S&P’s Howard Silverblatt. And more gains could be in the offing: in six of the previous eight instances that the S&P 500 gained more than 10% in a first quarter, it has averaged a 3.3% advance in the following quarter, S&P says.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the Nasdaq Comp. The tech-heavy measure surged 486.42 points, or 19%, to 309.57, outpacing the Dow and S&P 500 and narrowly missing its biggest point gain since 2000.

Financial and tech sectors were the big gainers, each surging 21% in the quarter, while consumer discretionary stocks jumped 16% and industrials advanced 11%. Nine of the 10 S&P 500 sectors rose in the first quarter; utilities were the lone laggards, falling 2.7%.